Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera (born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. She gained popularity when she played the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon TV series, Victorious, and afterwards portrayed the same character on the spin-off, Sam & Cat. She broke out musically in 2013 with her debut single, The Way from her No. 1 debut album, Yours Truly in 2014, she achieved worldwide success with "Problem" which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and released her sophomore album, My Everything on August 25th, 2014. In March 2016, Ariana released her lead single "Dangerous Woman" for her third studio album of the same name, the song debut to No. 10 in the Billboard Hot 100 making her the first artist to debut all of her lead single in the top 10 from each of her first few albums. Early Life/Career Ariana was born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida. She is of Italian descent (half Sicilian (Butera family), half Abruzzese (Grande family)), Greek descent and Tunisian or Moroccan descent.Her name was inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix the Cat and the shortened name of an Italian Car manufacturer Ferrari. Grande's parents are Joan Grande and Edward Butera, and she has an older brother, Frankie Grande, who is a performer and producer. When she was 8 years old, she went on a cruise with her family and she sang karaoke when Gloria Estafan (a famous Latin singer) was listening her sing. She told Ariana to follow her dreams, which inspired Ariana to do singing and acting.Ariana then did musicals at her local theater, her first being Annie, before taking music seriously when she was 13. 2008-2012: Breakthrough with ''Victorious'' In 2008, Grande played the role of Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway, for which she won a National Youth Theatre Association Award. When she joined the musical, Grande left her high school, North Broward Preparatory School, but continued to be enrolled. The school sent materials to her so she could study with tutors. In 2010, she created the original role of Miriam in the reading of the new musical, Cuba Libre, written and produced by Desmond Child; the musical is about two sisters that are journeying through the revolution in Cuba. Grande also played the character Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, which premiered in March 2010. In 2011, Ariana voiced an animated fairy, Princess Diaspro, on the Nickelodeon series Winx Club and starred as Snow White along with Charlene Tilton and Neil Patrick Harris in the Pasadena Playhouse production of A Snow White Christmas from December 13–23, 2012. In 2012, Grande sang a duet with MIKA on the single version of his track "Popular Song". In the following month it was also announced that the current season of Victorious (Season 3, which was split to a fourth season) would be the last. It was announced that the third soundtrack would be released on November 6, 2012 titled as Victorious 3.0. The first single was called "L.A. Boyz" (which was performed by Grande and Victoria Justice) and the music video was released October 18, 2012. Victorious ended on February 2, 2013. It was announced during the network's presentation at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on August 3, 2012 that Sam & Cat, which would pair Grande from Victorious and Jennette McCurdy from iCarly together in a traditional "buddy sitcom" setting, where they would reprise their roles as Cat Valentine and Sam Puckett. Grande tweeted stating that she wasn't hoping for Victorious to end and was looking forward to being on both shows. 2013-2014: Yours Truly and ''My Everything'' Grande completed her debut studio album, Yours Truly, in June 2013 which took three years to complete. It was released in the US on September 3, 2013. Grande commented on the album saying: "They can expect a lot of honesty. It's like a direct... you know, it's like it used to be pages lifted from my diary, instead of keeping diary, I would write songs about what was happening in my life. So it's really personal. It's a Motown throwback and pop at the same time, so it's '50s and '60s inspiration mixed with today." The album was inspired by artists like Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Madonna, and other like these. Grande worked with artists like Sky Blue from LMFAO, 3OH!3, Kool Kojak, and Pebe Sebert on the album. She was also working in the studio with Jonas Brothers singer Nick Jonas. On March 20, 2013, Ariana previewed her new song in its entirety at B96 in Chicago for a small group of her dedicated fans and had a pizza party with them. On March 26, 2013, Ariana's first single off her debut album, "The Way" featuring Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller, was released. Her second single "Baby I" was released, followed by "Almost Is Never Enough" featuring Nathan Sykes of The Wanted. Her last single from the album was "Right There" featuring Big Sean. On August 13, 2013, Ariana embarked on her debut tour, The Listening Sessions. She finished the tour on September 22, 2013. Sam & Cat was picked up by Nickelodeon on November 29, 2012, and the pilot showed them becoming roommates who launch a babysitting business for income. In December 2013, Grande released her debut Christmas EP, Christmas Kisses featuring the songs "Last Christmas", "Love Is Everything", "Snow In California" and "Santa Baby" On April 28, 2014, Ariana released the first single from her upcoming second studio album titled, "Problem" which features Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. The song was very successful selling over 400,000 units in its first week and debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song later peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100, reached No. 1 on the UK Charts, and sold over 3 million copies in the United States. The second single, "Break Free," which features German music producer Zedd went up to No. 1 on the iTunes chart almost immediately after its release. On July 13, 2014, Nickelodeon announced that they were cancelling Sam & Cat after 35 episodes due to a "multitude of issues." The series ended on July 17, 2014. The planned final 5 episodes of the season were never produced. It was rumored that the main cause behind the cancellation was due to Grande feuding with McCurdy after a salary dispute. "Bang Bang" by Jessie J, Ariana, and Nicki Minaj was released as the first single from Jessie's new album on July 29, 2014. The song debuted at No. 6, and has since peaked at No. 3, on the Billboard Hot 100 and is featured on the deluxe edition of My Everything. My Everything, Ariana's second album, was released on August 25 in the United States, and seven out its fifteen songs are collaborations. It has been released in standard, deluxe, and Target edition formats. In November 2014, Grande released her debut EP, Love Me Harder featuring the songs "Love Me Harder", "Cadillac Song" and "Too Close". In December 2014, Grande re-released her debut Christmas EP, Christmas Kisses featuring the debut Christmas single "Santa Tell Me". 2015-present: The Honeymoon Tour and ''Dangerous Woman'' On February 25, 2015, Ariana embarked on her first worldwide tour, The Honeymoon Tour, starting in North America. She finished the tour on October 25, 2015. In May / June 2015, Grande released her debut remix album, The Remix featuring remixes of her singles of her debut album Yours Truly and her sophomore album My Everything. On January 17, 2015, it was confirmed Ariana would return to television in a recurring role on the new Ryan Murphy series Scream Queens, co-starring alongside Emma Roberts, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, and Keke Palmer. The series revolved around a college campus shacked by a multitude of recent murders. Production began in April, and lasted through November. The first season aired on Fox during the fall of 2015. On October 30, 2015, Grande released "Focus", the planned lead single from her third studio album, Dangerous Woman, then titled Moonlight. However, it was cut from the standard edition of the album, only being included as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of the album. In December 2015, Grande released her second Christmas EP, Christmas & Chill featuring the songs "Intro", "Wit It This Christmas", "December", "Not Just On Christmas", "True Love" and "Winter Things". On March 11, 2016, Ariana released "Dangerous Woman", the lead single from her third studio album, Dangerous Woman. On March 18, 2016, "Be Alright" was released as the first promotional single from Dangerous Woman. On April 18, 2016, "Let Me Love You" was released as the second promotional single from Dangerous Woman. On May 6, 2016, "Into You" was released as the second single from Dangerous Woman. On May 20, 2016, Dangerous Woman was released. On August 30, 2016, "Side to Side", featuring rapper Nicki Minaj, was released as the third single from Dangerous Woman. On September 8, 2016 after her appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the dates were for the first leg of tour were announced on Grande's website. Grande is set to begin her Dangerous Woman Tour in support of her third studio album, Dangerous Woman, on February 2, 2017. On January 10, 2017, "Everyday", featuring rapper Future, was released as the fourth single from Dangerous Woman. Films Television TV Shows Talk Shows Stage Singles As a lead artist As a Featured Artist Albums EPs Other studio recorded songs Music videos Ariana Grande/Gallery ]] Grande Grande Grande Grande Grande Grande Grande Grande Grande Grande Grande